Under Your Skin
by Efils God
Summary: A Harry/Ron slash fic. Returning to Hogwarts for their fourth year, the boys are facing both personal problems and rumors circulating around Hogwarts.


Have You Seen Me Lately?  
  
Notes: My first HP fic. Harry and Ron come back to Hogwarts for their  
fourth year, and Ron has changed. My apologies for any incongruity, I  
haven't read all of the books yet.  
  
Disclaimer: Just try and sue me over this...it's not like I'm making any cash.  
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Harry stood on the platform, waiting for his boyfriend to return from a  
summer away with the whole Weasley family.  
  
"You standing 'round here again?" The scratchy but caring voice from  
behind him was Hagrid's.   
  
"It feels like forever since I've seen Ron. I can't wait for him to get back."  
  
"You know, Harry, there have been rumors going around...." Hagrid stopped  
there.  
  
"Yeah, I know. I think it's Draco who's been spreading them." Harry wasn't  
quite getting it.  
  
"Well, I just want you to know, it makes no difference to me." Harry said  
nothing to that. It wasn't what he was thinking. Harry never thought Hagrid  
knew the truth about him and Ron. No one knew, he had thought. but what  
could he do about it?  
  
Another year at Hogwarts was ripe to begin, and no doubt Draco and others  
would be saying things. While Harry didn't care much about it, he knew it  
bothered Ron. It wasn't so much that Ron was more afraid of everyone  
finding out as it was that he didn't have the kind of support that Harry did.  
He was The Boy Who Lived, the all-important seeker for Gryffindore, the  
young hero. Ron was just another Weasley, descended of a long history of  
non-standout wizards and witches. Ron was the one who had to put up with  
being made fun of, not Harry.  
  
The train pulled in, and a batch of returning students poured out. All of the  
different families were among them- the Malfoys, the Grangers. The  
Weasleys. The mass of redheads stepped onto the platform as if one, and  
slowly broke apart, going to whoever or whatever held their interest- Percy  
meeting up with Oliver, Fred and George running off to creat some kind of  
mischief, and- of course- Harry reuniting with Ron. No one saw it as weird,  
of course. They were best friends. They had been ever since they'd arrived at  
Hogwarts. No one thought they were going out, even if some rumors were  
circulating- especially in Slytherin' house.   
  
"How was your summer?" Ron asked in a deep voice he hadn't had when he  
left.  
  
"It was all right. Yours?"  
  
"It was ok. I missed you. It's made me think about some things, but we can  
talk later. We should go to the ceremony for the first years right now, I  
guess." The two boys went to the ceremony, sat at the Gryffindore table, and  
cheered alongside their housemates, but Harry's mind was elsewhere. 'Ron  
seems so different,' he thought to himself. Just looking at the boy, it seemed  
to Harry as if something had changed. Maybe it was that they hadn't been  
together in so long, or maybe it was that Ron wasn't the little boy that Harry  
had always thought of him as, but something simply wasn't the way Harry  
thought it should be.  
  
Both of them were happy when the meal ended and they were able to go up  
to their rooms, but not for the same reason. Harry wasn't nearly so worried as  
he had been, and Ron just couldn't wait to get Harry alone. They walked up  
to their room side-by-side, talking about everything that had happened while  
they were apart. Once they arrived, Ron told Harry about getting caught  
using a spell away from Hogwarts by his brother Fred, and Harry laughed a  
bit. "It's not funny."  
  
"It is to me."  
  
"Well maybe you'll think this is funny, too," Ron said, and began tickling  
Harry while slowly coaxing him onto his bed. Eventually Ron got him close  
enough and just pushed Harry down onto the soft bed. Ron then laid down on  
top of Harry and began to kiss him. Harry reciprocated, and soon their  
tongues moved in-between each other's lips. Ron's hands moved down to  
Harry's hips as he slowly tried to pull the boy's pants down. Harry pulled  
back from Ron's kissed and pushed the redhead off of him.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"I just thought...." Ron didn't even finish his sentence.  
  
"I'm not ready to go any further with this quite yet, Harry said in an honest  
voice, looking upwards at Ron.  
  
"I understand," Ron said, turning away and getting off the bed. He looked  
away, out the window.  
  
"Ron," Harry started, but didn't finish. Ron sulked in the corner while Harry  
came up behind him and wrapped his arms around the boy. Ron looked back  
a bit at Harry and smiled. Just because he wasn't quite getting what he  
wanted, it didn't mean that he could deny Harry, or stop loving him. "You  
said you wanted to talk about some things earlier at the train station," Harry  
said, breaking up the moment. "What's on your mind?"  
  
"Nevermind, it really wasn't important," Ron mumbled, now seeing clearly  
that Harry wasn't ready to take a leap forward, sex-wise. Still, Harry knew  
what Ron was thinking.  
  
"It was about taking our relationship to the next level, wasn't it?" Ron turned  
around and faced Harry, although he was looking down just a bit, with a  
streak of shame running through him.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much that." Ron's face was turning a bit red. Harry didn't  
know what to say, nor what to do. It was just so clear that Ron was getting  
older. Maturing. Harry simply wasn't there- he wasn't ready to do what Ron  
wanted him to. They'd been going out for nearly a year, and still Harry just  
wasn't ready to go below the waist.  
  
Harry moved forward a bit and locked lips with Ron again. "Goodnight,  
Ron." With those words he turned and headed towards his bed, collapsing  
upon it. Harry was tired, just from thinking about everything. He needed  
some rest. He needed some time to sort everything out.  
*****************************************************************  
  
The next day at breakfast, Harry sat across from Ron and Hermione. He  
didn't have much to say, but Hermione did- like always. After telling the  
more interesting stories of her summer away, she turned to Harry. "Oh, you  
know, I've been hearing this rumor going around about you and  
Ron...y'know. Is it true?" Harry exhaled through his nose and loked down.  
Ron instantly protested.  
  
"What? Where'd you hear that?" he said, glaring at Neville, who was the  
only person that they had told about it, and it was only because he had  
happened upon them once while they were making out.  
  
Hermione looked away. "Oh, just people."  
  
"What kind of an answer is that?" Ron was annoyed with Hermoine, but it  
got him to thinking. With all kinds of stories going around Hogwarts, perhaps  
it would be better for Harry and him to just tell everyone the truth about it.  
After all, everyone knew about Percy and Oliver, and yet no one seemed to  
question them. But then, Harry and Ron were a lot younger. And there would  
be no end to Draco's teasing. At least for the moment, Ron thought, it was  
best to deny it.  
  
"Ron, come on, we're going to be late for our first day of class!" Ron's train  
of thought was derailed by Harry's voice.  
  
"Oh. Right." 


End file.
